Troughlike carton having tripartite cornerpanels



United States Patent Inventors Rune Gurien Alex Odenhagen Malmo, 0; Vilho Johannes Eriksson, Lund, Sweden Appl. No. 776,890 Filed Nov. 19, 1968 Patented Oct. 27, 1970 Assignee AB Akerlund & Rausing Lund, Sweden a corporation of Sweden Priority Dec. 7, 1967, Mar. 19, 1968 Sweden 16,800/67 and 3595/68 TROIJGIILIKE CARTON HAVING TRIPARTITE CORNERPANELS 1 Claim, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 229/31. 229/32, 229/375 Int. Cl B65d 5/24 [50] Field of Search 229/35. 3 l 31(i), 32, 35; 99/174, 171; 220/62 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 260,604 7/l 882 Palmer 229/31 3,316,102 4/1967 Doll et al. 99/171 FOREIGN PATENTS 6,513,809 4/l 967 Netherlands 229/3! Primary Examiner-David M. Boekenek Attorney-Pierce, Scheffler and Parker Patented Oct. 27, 1970 3,536,248

Sheet 1 of 4 Fig .1

Patented Oct. 27, 1970 Sheet Patented Oct. 27, 1970 3,536,248

Sheet 3 014 Fig.

Patented Oct. 27, 1970 3,536,248

Sheet 4 014 Fig .6

TROUGI'ILIKE CARTON HAVING TRIPARTITE CORNERPANELS bottom, four sidewalls and corner panels divided into essentially triangular panel portions, said corner panels uniting the sidewalls.

The carton according to the'invention is characterized in that the corner panels are divided into three panel portions which are folded together in the erected carton so as to form an essentially triangular bundle consisting of three layers of material and forming an inclined rigid corner wall.

The object of the invention is to provide a troughlike carton having an impervious corner structure. The carton should be easy to erect in ordinary carton erecting machines. Preferably, it should further be provided with a projecting flange onto which a wafer is meant to be stuck in order to seal the carton. The carton may either be embodied with vertical walls or with outwardly inclined walls. The carton is preferably provided for ready-made food and should therefore be rigid to such a degree that it may be possible to eat directly therefrom.

The carton according to the invention offers the above advantages and a great many advantages besides which will be apparent from the following description in which some preferred embodiments of the subject matter of the invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 shows a carton blank for a first preferred embodiment of the subject matter of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a corner of the carton according to FIG. 1 in an erected state.

FIGS. 3 to 6 show four different alternatives of the corner structure according to FIG. 1.

FIGS. 7 and 8, finally, show a perspectiveview and a cross section, respectively, through the corner according to FIG. 6 in its erected state.

As appears from FIG. 1 a blank for a carton according'to the invention may comprise a bottom panel 1, four sidewall panels 2, 3, 4 and 5, and corner panels 6 divided into three panel portions 6a, 6b, and 60, said corner panels uniting the respective side panels. The four sidewall panels 2 to 5 are provided in the example shown in FIG. 1 with four flange panels 7,8,9 and which may be folded in the erected carton either inwardly or outwardly. Preferably, they are folded outwardly. The intermediate panel 6b of the panel portions 6a to 6c is provided with a panel extension 11 which is wider than the panel portion 6b. As a result hereof, this panel will in the erected carton overlap the adjacent flange panels, e.g. 7 and 8. As will be apparent from a comparison between FIGS. 1 and 2, the panel 6b will at the erection of the carton be located between the panel portions 6a and 6c. Together these panel portions will consequently form a triangular bundle in the corner of the carton. Accordingly as the panel 6b is folded inwardly towards the panel 60, the panel extension 11 is swung through l80. If the carton blank is manufactured from a material which is plastic-coated on one side only, the projecting portions of the panel extension 11 will in such a case turn this plastic-coated side towards the equally plastic-coated side of the adjacent flange panel. As a consequence hereof, the sealing of the panel extension 11 against these flange panels will be considerably facilitated.

The corner structure according to FIG. 3 differs from the structure according to FIG. 1 merely in that the inner angle of the panel portions 611 to 60 has been chosen larger than the angle of the panel portions 6a to 60. For this reason the same reference numerals have been used in FIG. 3, although with the addition of a primary sign. When the carton structure according to FIG. 3 is erected. the walls 2 to 5 will become less inclined outwardly than is the case in the structure according to FIGS. 1 to 2. in other respects there is no difference in relation to the latter construction.

The construction according to FIG. 4 differs from the one according to FIG. I in that the panel cxtcnslon II has been substituted by two panel extensions Ila" and lie, which start from the panel portions 6a" and 60', respectively. The panel extensions Ila" and lie" will overlap each other and the adjacent flange panels 7 and 8" in the erected carton. By reason hereof, they may be united both with each other and with the said adjacent flange panel, whereby a highly rigid corner structure is obtained. In this FIG., ,too, the same reference numerals have been used as in FIG. 1, although with the addition of a secondary sign.

FIG. 5 shows an additional modification of the subject matter of the invention. In this FIG., too, the same reference numerals have been used as in FIG. 1, although with the addition of a tertiary sign. The construction coincides with theone according to FIG. 4 in that it is the panel portions 6a"' 6c that are provided with two. panel extensions lla l lc"a" is further pro vided with a fold-in panel 12" at its outer margin. After the carton has been erected and the flange panels 7" and 8" together with the panel extensions 11a and have been folded outwardly so as to form a continuous flange, the fold-in panel 12" is folded inwardly over the corner, which thus obtains a neat appearance at the same time as the corner structure becomes highly rigid.

The embodiment according to FIGS. 6 to 8, finally, differs slightly more from the other embodiments, for which reason new reference numerals have been chosen.

As appears from FIG. 6, the corner shown here comprises a bottom panel 21, two sidewalls 22 and 23, a marginal flange 24, 25, 27 and a triangular corner panel which units the sidewalls 22 and 23. This corner panel may be said to consist of three panel portions, viz. panel portion 26 which is located between the crease lines 28 and 29 inside the flange panel portion 27 and two panel portions 22a and 23a which are made integral with the sidewalls 22 and 23, respectively, i.e. without delimiting crease lines. The width b in the marginal panel portion 25 is preferably chosen larger than the width a of the marginal panel portion 24, while the marginal panel portion 27 is connected to the other two portions by being made narrower at one end than at the other.

At the erection of the carton the panel portion 26 is folded inwardly over the panel portion 23a, at the same time as the panel portion 22a is folded inwardly over these two other panel portions. The container will then obtain the appearance shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The embodiment according to FIGS. 6 to 8 provides inter alia the advantage that the carton does not in any place present any raw cut edge towards the packed product. In addition, there is the advantage that the corners in the crcctcd carton will obtain a softly rounded shape in horizontal sections due to the resiliency of the carton material. It is also possible, however like in other embodiments described, to dispose crease lines also between the panel portion 22a and the adjacent sidewall 22 and between the panel portion 23a and the sidewall 23. In such an embodiment, too, it has proved possible to bend the marginal flange outwardly without causing the material to break. This bending operation is most easily done when carton which is plastic-coated on both sides is used. Also carton plastic-coated on one side only, as well as carton not coated with plastic may be used, however. When the inner angle a of thepanel portion 26 is varied, it is, of course, also necessary to vary the radius of the outer arcs in the corner of the container blank. In that case these arcs may in some cases become concave. Preferably, the angle [3 is made equal to twice the angle a.

The invention is not, of course, restricted to the embodiment shown and described above but may be varied within the scope of the following claims. Thus, the inner angle of the panel portions 6a and 60 may be varied within wide limits. In addition, it is e.g. possible to dispense with the panel extensions 11c and 110", respectively, in FIGS. 4 and 5. In that case the flange panels 8'- and 8"respcctively. should instead be extended. The cnrton structure according to the invention may besides be embodied without any l'lnngc at all.

We claim:

III

and

and

l. A traylike container of carton material comprising a bottom panel, at least three peripheral sidewalls contiguous with said bottom panel and corner panels connecting each sidewall with the adjacent sidewall, each corner panel being triangular in shape and composed of three contiguous triangular portions folded upon themselves to form a rigid three layer corner panel inclined with respect to the connected adjacent sidewalls to hold saidwalls in a rigid position with respect to the bottom panel, said sidewalls being provided with upper flange panels folded along the upper edges of said sidewalls and at least one of said triangular portions of each corner panel having an extension folded to engage the flange panels of the adjacent sidewalls and the three layer corner panel to make the corner construction more rigid.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the intermediate portion of said three contiguous triangular panel portions in each corner panel is provided with a panel extension which is wider than the outer margin of the panel portion from which it extends so that the portions of the panel extension which project beyond said panel portion will overlap the adjacent flange panels and the three layer corner panel portions when they are folded together and the panel extension has been turned through 180.

3. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the two outer panel portions of said three contiguous triangular panel portions of each corner panel are provided with a panel extension which is wider than the respective panel portions from which they extend and which engage each other and the adjacent flange panels to make the corner construction more rigid.

4. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the two outer panel portions of said three contiguous triangular panel portions of each corner panel are provided with panel extensions, each of which is wider than the triangular portion from which it extends and further comprising a fold-in panel extending from one of said panel extensions, said fold-in panel being inwardly folded to maintain the panel portions, and panel extensions togetherwhen folded together.

5. A traylike container of carton material comprising a bottom panel, at least three peripheral sidewalls contiguous with said bottom panel, and corner panels connecting each sidewall with the adjacent sidewall, a continuous marginal flange panel extending about said sidewalls and said corner panels, each corner panel having an intermediate triangular portion and outer triangular portions on either side thereof contiguous with the adjacent sidewalls, said intermediate triangular portion being nested between the other portions when folded together to form a three layer curved corner panel, and said continuous marginal flange also being three layered at the corner panels and folded outwardly to form a stiffening mar ginal flange thereabout.

6. A container as claimed in claim 5, wherein said intermediate triangular portion is separated from the outer portions of the corner panel by crease lines, said corner panel when folded into the three layer configuration being rounded due to the resiliency of the carton material. 

